Video is now the principle method individuals eat content material on-line. A lot of that video content material is pure leisure, however customers are itching for branded movies. Actually, 91% of individuals say they’d prefer to see extra movies from firms they help.
In response, manufacturers are investing extra in video advertising content material than ever to fulfill such robust engagement and potential ROI. Of the entrepreneurs who responded to Wyzowl’s State of Video Advertising and marketing 2023 report, 92% say video provides them return on their funding.
But entrepreneurs are nonetheless challenged by new, fast-moving video codecs that proceed to redefine the panorama.
Let’s discover three rising video codecs and the way manufacturers can combine them into model consciousness and lead-generation campaigns.
Prime 3 video codecs and the way they drive engagement
Model movies will be lighthearted, however there’s a hazard in pondering of video as solely a top-of-the-funnel (TOFU) asset. If executed effectively, video codecs akin to short-form, dwell streaming, and user-generated content material can serve all phases of the advertising funnel.
As you execute your video advertising technique this yr, maintain these tendencies in thoughts.
1. Person-generated movies
Person-generated content material (UGC) movies, from unboxings to tutorials to evaluations, may help construct belief in a model as a result of they arrive from common individuals who merely benefit from the merchandise they’re posting about.
However UGC can even meet center and backside funnel objectives akin to leads and gross sales. Practically eight out of 10 customers say user-generated content material extremely impacts their buying selections. As any client can let you know: a thumbs up from a fellow shopper is usually the ultimate push to click on the purchase button.
The advantages of user-generated movies are clear, however that doesn’t imply entrepreneurs ought to throw out branded content material. Combining user-generated movies with extra polished, professionally generated movies is the candy spot for many manufacturers.
To get your model followers to submit UGC movies, it’s best to:
- Ask followers who’re lively in your model’s social channels to shoot quick movies utilizing your product. In return, you’ll function them on these channels. (Ask customers to maintain it quick and easy. You’re not searching for a documentary!)
- Run contests that encourage prospects to create quick movies. Incentivize them with reward playing cards and different rewards. Good examples are shoe model DSW’s #DSWCutLoose marketing campaign on TikTok and GoPro’s #MillionDollarChallenge on Instagram)
- Create Google Alerts to seize any mentions of your model on-line. This can be a nice method to uncover current person movies. Make sure to at all times ask customers for permission earlier than reposting their movies.
2. Reside streaming
Reside streaming — outlined as video streamed in real-time the place viewers can work together by liking and commenting — delivers quite a few advantages, together with humanizing your model, producing income, and increasing your target market. Livestreams are additionally reasonably priced to supply when you’ve got a smartphone, fundamental lighting gear and microphones, and first rate on-camera expertise.
It helps that customers strongly choose dwell video, too. Fb Reside movies drive thrice extra engagement and 10 instances the quantity of feedback than conventional movies.
Livestreams can tackle many kinds. Large, elaborate occasions akin to conferences switched to a livestream mannequin in the course of the pandemic. However tech giants like Google (Google I/O), Microsoft (Microsoft Construct), IBM (IBM Assume), and Apple (WWDC) have continued to stream their conferences as a result of they’ve skilled firsthand how dwell streaming can improve a convention’s attain past in-person boundaries.
As for extra particular examples of dwell streaming, Q&A periods are gaining popularity. Usually, a bunch will reply viewer questions or do a fireplace chat-type interview with an business influencer or buyer. Enterprise software program supplier SAP dwell streams conversations with its high-profile prospects every month in a collection known as “Higher Collectively: Buyer Conversations.” In 2021, Salesforce dwell streamed a collection of Q&As with business influencers on LinkedIn Reside as 600,000 natural viewers watched.
Some manufacturers have taken to dwell streaming to show new expertise. Adobe, as an example, dwell streams courses for illustration, pictures, and graphic design taught by influencers within the inventive house.
On the patron aspect, one of many hottest ecommerce dwell streaming tendencies is dwell buying, the place an influencer promotes model merchandise in real-time. Customers tune in to be taught, chat, and buy merchandise immediately from contained in the dwell video.
To dwell stream successfully, think about the next.
- Have a plan. What are you attempting to perform? What are the subjects you need to cowl? What’s the construction of the dwell occasion? What’s the takeaway for viewers?
- Reside stream the place your audiences dwell. That may very well be Instagram, Fb, TikTok, YouTube, Twitter, or LinkedIn. To advertise your livestream, begin promoting it two weeks prematurely, after which ship out a reminder per week earlier than the livestream, after which a day earlier than, after which two hours earlier than. Advertise by way of emails, newsletters, and weblog posts, in addition to on all social channels the place your model is lively.
- Report the livestream and repurpose it in weblog posts, embed it e-mail newsletters, and
flip excerpts into Instagram Tales or TikTok movies. Livestreams can generate curiosity lengthy after the precise stream occurs.
3. Brief-form video content material
Influenced by TikTok, Instagram Reels, and YouTube Shorts, short-form movies that use humor, music, and on-screen textual content have been the hottest kind of content on social media in 2022.
And types observed. Ninety % of entrepreneurs who leveraged short-form video in 2022 plan to maintain doing it this yr. It additionally has the very best ROI of all social media advertising methods.
Whether or not your model serves up short-form video on TikTok, Instagram, or YouTube, the perfect practices are comparable.
4. Be genuine and casual
With short-form video, your job is to shortly entertain and inform customers utilizing a conversational model, on-screen captions, polls and quizzes, and naturally, music. On-camera expertise issues, so faucet your model’s material specialists — or influencers, if doable — to provide your short-form movies authority and character.
Don’t use short-form video as a gross sales automobile, although. Smooth promoting is OK if the video is in regards to the way of life round a model relatively than the product itself, as L.L. Bean does brilliantly on this Instagram Reel.
5. Get to the purpose instantly
In response to Fb information, 45 % of people that watch the primary three seconds of a video will look ahead to 30 seconds.
Each second counts, so begin speaking or providing on-screen captions the millisecond your video begins. This TikTok video from Levi’s about stain removing will get your consideration straight away and holds it (with none spoken phrases!).
6. Keep on a publishing schedule
Your model ought to publish short-form movies constantly in the course of the week. The variety of movies per week varies by platform — the rule of thumb for TikTok is at the least as soon as a day, however for Instagram, social specialists advocate 4 to seven Reels per week.
Manufacturers ought to experiment with video publish quantity and monitor viewers suggestions. The bottom line is to be constant. Algorithms favor repeatedly scheduled content material, and your viewers will stay up for your movies in the event that they know they’re coming.
Posting constantly additionally gives extra correct information on what works on your target market and what time of day they’re more likely to have interaction along with your movies.
An opportunity to refocus methods round video content material
Customers have spoken: They like video content material over written content material.
However in the event you’re caught prior to now creating long-winded movies centered in your product and never your viewers, you received’t have interaction with the hundreds of thousands of customers craving quick bursts of energetic, visible data.
And that viewers contains two key demographics for many manufacturers: Gen Zers and millennials, who now listing short-form video as their most popular format to find out about new merchandise. To maintain up with the demand, entrepreneurs will make investments extra in short-form movies in 2023 than another social media pattern. Why? As a result of they’re seeing constant engagement and ROI.
In case your model isn’t but a believer in video content material, 2023 could also be your wake-up name. Let this be the yr you cease treating TikTok as a punchline and prioritize UGC, dwell streaming, and short-form video inside your advertising technique.
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Semih Akgul